diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 230c7e584e7..8d99aa4c5c8 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.9
 ##################
 ##  base image  ##
 ##################
-FROM python:${PYTHON_VERSION}-slim AS python-base
+FROM docker.io/python:${PYTHON_VERSION}-slim AS python-base
 
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.authors="mauwii@outlook.de"
 
@@ -13,10 +13,7 @@ RUN rm -f /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/docker-clean \
   && echo 'Binary::apt::APT::Keep-Downloaded-Packages "true";' >/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/keep-cache
 
 # Install necessary packages
-RUN \
-  --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt,sharing=locked \
-  --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt,sharing=locked \
-  apt-get update \
+RUN apt-get update \
   && apt-get install -y \
     --no-install-recommends \
     libgl1-mesa-glx=20.3.* \
@@ -34,6 +31,9 @@ ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE 1
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
 # don't fall back to legacy build system
 ENV PIP_USE_PEP517=1
+# set env for next stages
+ENV APPDIR=${APPDIR}
+ENV APPNAME=${APPNAME}
 
 #######################
 ##  build pyproject  ##
@@ -41,10 +41,7 @@ ENV PIP_USE_PEP517=1
 FROM python-base AS pyproject-builder
 
 # Install dependencies
-RUN \
-  --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt,sharing=locked \
-  --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt,sharing=locked \
-  apt-get update \
+RUN apt-get update \
   && apt-get install -y \
     --no-install-recommends \
     build-essential=12.9 \
@@ -57,18 +54,16 @@ ENV PIP_CACHE_DIR ${PIP_CACHE_DIR}
 RUN mkdir -p ${PIP_CACHE_DIR}
 
 # create virtual environment
-RUN --mount=type=cache,target=${PIP_CACHE_DIR},sharing=locked \
-  python3 -m venv "${APPNAME}" \
+RUN python3 -m venv "${APPNAME}" \
   --upgrade-deps
 
 # copy sources
-COPY --link . .
+COPY . .
 
 # install pyproject.toml
 ARG PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
 ENV PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL ${PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL}
-RUN --mount=type=cache,target=${PIP_CACHE_DIR},sharing=locked \
-  "${APPNAME}/bin/pip" install .
+RUN "${APPNAME}/bin/pip" install .
 
 # build patchmatch
 RUN python3 -c "from patchmatch import patch_match"
@@ -84,7 +79,8 @@ RUN useradd \
   --no-log-init \
   -m \
   -U \
-  "${UNAME}"
+  "${UNAME}" \
+  -u 1000
 
 # create volume directory
 ARG VOLUME_DIR=/data
diff --git a/docker/build.sh b/docker/build.sh
index 21108d2d217..9eb8088b6b3 100755
--- a/docker/build.sh
+++ b/docker/build.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ DOCKERFILE=${INVOKE_DOCKERFILE:-./Dockerfile}
 
 # print the settings
 echo -e "You are using these values:\n"
+echo -e "Container engine:\t${CONTAINER_ENGINE}"
 echo -e "Dockerfile:\t\t${DOCKERFILE}"
 echo -e "index-url:\t\t${PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL:-none}"
 echo -e "Volumename:\t\t${VOLUMENAME}"
@@ -32,20 +33,37 @@ echo -e "Container Tag:\t\t${CONTAINER_TAG}"
 echo -e "Container Flavor:\t${CONTAINER_FLAVOR}"
 echo -e "Container Image:\t${CONTAINER_IMAGE}\n"
 
+# Create outputs directory if it does not exist
+[[ -d ./outputs ]] || mkdir ./outputs
+
 # Create docker volume
-if [[ -n "$(docker volume ls -f name="${VOLUMENAME}" -q)" ]]; then
+if [[ -n "$(${CONTAINER_ENGINE} volume ls -f name="${VOLUMENAME}" -q)" ]]; then # Note: newer versions of podman: podman volume exists ${VOLUMENAME} 
     echo -e "Volume already exists\n"
 else
-    echo -n "creating docker volume "
-    docker volume create "${VOLUMENAME}"
+    echo -n "creating ${CONTAINER_ENGINE} volume "
+    "${CONTAINER_ENGINE}" volume create "${VOLUMENAME}"
 fi
 
 # Build Container
-DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build \
+DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 "${CONTAINER_ENGINE}" build \
     --platform="${PLATFORM:-linux/amd64}" \
     --tag="${CONTAINER_IMAGE:-invokeai}" \
     ${CONTAINER_FLAVOR:+--build-arg="CONTAINER_FLAVOR=${CONTAINER_FLAVOR}"} \
     ${PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL:+--build-arg="PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL=${PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL}"} \
+    ${PYTHON_VERSION:+--build-arg="PYTHON_VERSION=${PYTHON_VERSION}"} \
     ${PIP_PACKAGE:+--build-arg="PIP_PACKAGE=${PIP_PACKAGE}"} \
     --file="${DOCKERFILE}" \
     ..
+
+# Podman only:  set ownership for user 1000:1000 (appuser) the right way
+if [[ ${CONTAINER_ENGINE} == "podman" ]] ; then
+   echo Setting ownership for container\'s appuser on /data and /data/outputs
+   podman run \
+      --mount type=volume,src="${VOLUMENAME}",target=/data \
+      --user root --entrypoint "/bin/chown" "${CONTAINER_IMAGE:-invokeai}" \
+      -R 1000:1000 /data
+   podman run \
+      --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)"/outputs,target=/data/outputs \
+      --user root --entrypoint "/bin/chown" "${CONTAINER_IMAGE:-invokeai}" \
+      -R 1000:1000 /data/outputs
+fi
diff --git a/docker/env.sh b/docker/env.sh
index 6eecb24e8e6..d7d5baddc2a 100644
--- a/docker/env.sh
+++ b/docker/env.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 
 # This file is used to set environment variables for the build.sh and run.sh scripts.
 
+# docker is the default container engine, but should work with "podman" (rootless) too!
+CONTAINER_ENGINE=${CONTAINER_ENGINE:-docker}
+
+# use python v3.9 by default
+PYTHON_VERSION=${PYTHON_VERSION:-3.9}
+
 # Try to detect the container flavor if no PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL got specified
 if [[ -z "$PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL" ]]; then
 
@@ -13,10 +19,10 @@ if [[ -z "$PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL" ]]; then
   fi
 
   # Decide which container flavor to build if not specified
-  if [[ -z "$CONTAINER_FLAVOR" ]] && python -c "import torch" &>/dev/null; then
+  if [[ -z "$CONTAINER_FLAVOR" ]] && python3 -c "import torch" &>/dev/null; then
     # Check for CUDA and ROCm
-    CUDA_AVAILABLE=$(python -c "import torch;print(torch.cuda.is_available())")
-    ROCM_AVAILABLE=$(python -c "import torch;print(torch.version.hip is not None)")
+    CUDA_AVAILABLE=$(python3 -c "import torch;print(torch.cuda.is_available())")
+    ROCM_AVAILABLE=$(python3 -c "import torch;print(torch.version.hip is not None)")
     if [[ "${CUDA_AVAILABLE}" == "True" ]]; then
       CONTAINER_FLAVOR="cuda"
     elif [[ "${ROCM_AVAILABLE}" == "True" ]]; then
@@ -41,6 +47,14 @@ REPOSITORY_NAME="${REPOSITORY_NAME-$(basename "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
 REPOSITORY_NAME="${REPOSITORY_NAME,,}"
 VOLUMENAME="${VOLUMENAME-"${REPOSITORY_NAME}_data"}"
 ARCH="${ARCH-$(uname -m)}"
+if [ $ARCH == "aarch64" ]
+then
+   ARCH=arm64
+fi
+if [ $ARCH == "x86_64" ]
+then
+   ARCH=amd64
+fi
 PLATFORM="${PLATFORM-linux/${ARCH}}"
 INVOKEAI_BRANCH="${INVOKEAI_BRANCH-$(git branch --show)}"
 CONTAINER_REGISTRY="${CONTAINER_REGISTRY-"ghcr.io"}"
diff --git a/docker/run.sh b/docker/run.sh
index c52ccb4c4de..1bb582fdb71 100755
--- a/docker/run.sh
+++ b/docker/run.sh
@@ -8,27 +8,31 @@ cd "$SCRIPTDIR" || exit 1
 
 source ./env.sh
 
-# Create outputs directory if it does not exist
-[[ -d ./outputs ]] || mkdir ./outputs
-
 echo -e "You are using these values:\n"
+echo -e "Container engine:\t${CONTAINER_ENGINE}"
 echo -e "Volumename:\t${VOLUMENAME}"
 echo -e "Invokeai_tag:\t${CONTAINER_IMAGE}"
 echo -e "local Models:\t${MODELSPATH:-unset}\n"
 
-docker run \
+if [[ "${CONTAINER_ENGINE}" == "podman" ]]; then
+   PODMAN_ARGS="--user=appuser:appuser"
+   unset PLATFORM #causes problems
+fi
+
+"${CONTAINER_ENGINE}" run \
   --interactive \
   --tty \
   --rm \
-  --platform="${PLATFORM}" \
+  ${PLATFORM+--platform="${PLATFORM}"} \
   --name="${REPOSITORY_NAME,,}" \
   --hostname="${REPOSITORY_NAME,,}" \
-  --mount=source="${VOLUMENAME}",target=/data \
+  --mount type=volume,src="${VOLUMENAME}",target=/data \
   --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)"/outputs,target=/data/outputs \
   ${MODELSPATH:+--mount="type=bind,source=${MODELSPATH},target=/data/models"} \
   ${HUGGING_FACE_HUB_TOKEN:+--env="HUGGING_FACE_HUB_TOKEN=${HUGGING_FACE_HUB_TOKEN}"} \
   --publish=9090:9090 \
   --cap-add=sys_nice \
+  ${PODMAN_ARGS:+"${PODMAN_ARGS}"} \
   ${GPU_FLAGS:+--gpus="${GPU_FLAGS}"} \
   "${CONTAINER_IMAGE}" ${@:+$@}